Petroleum Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Petroleum Engineer designs and develops methods for extracting oil and gas from beneath the surface of the earth. Determines the best process of extracting a deposit of gas or oil, designs drilling equipment, and develops and improves methods of extraction.
Job Outlook
There were 112 Petroleum Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 3155 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Reservoir / Petroleum Engineer industry, which includes the Petroleum Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Petroleum Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $92,034.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $80,868.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Petroleum Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $72,914.
Education and Experience
Posted Petroleum Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 3.45% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 61.71% |
| Master's Degree | 14.04% |
| Doctoral Degree | 4.28% |
| Other | 12.49% |
Posted Petroleum Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 24.26% |
| 3 to 5 years | 33.06% |
| 6 to 8 years | 13.61% |
| 9+ years | 29.07% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Petroleum Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (36.04%)
- Operations (27.83%)
- Management (25.96%)
- Leadership (20.63%)
- Research (18.48%)
- Planning (17.91%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (16.8%)
- Mentorship (15.25%)
- Coordinating (14.96%)
- Writing (14.52%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Petroleum Engineering (14.39%)
- Oil And Gas (30.27%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Electrical Engineering (17.57%)
- Natural Gas (10.22%)
- Project Management (20.47%)
- AutoCAD (11.56%)
- Procurement (7.92%)
- Business Development (12.32%)
- Engineering Calculations (13.43%)
- Chemical Engineering (11.63%)
- Engineering Design Process (17.49%)
- Project Engineering (11.71%)
- Material Selection (13.78%)
- Process Engineering (12.97%)
- Mechanical Engineering (14.01%)
- Refinery Experience (5.59%)
- Construction (25.11%)
- Petrochemical (8.65%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Gasification (5.7%)
- Claus Process (3.9%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Gasification (28.44%)
- Petroleum Engineering (71.76%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Petroleum Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Oil and Gas Engineer
- Service Trainer
- Gas Turbine Engineer
- Gas Engineer
- Field Engineer
- Chemical Process Engineer
- Industrial Engineer
- Electrical Power Engineer
- Natural Gas Analyst
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Petroleum Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Black & Veatch (581)
- Spatco Energy Solutions (181)
- Matchatalent (165)
- Kiewit Corporation (50)
- Johnson Matthey (44)
- GE Aerospace (44)
- Entrust Solutions Group (36)
- Burns & McDonnell (33)
- National Grid (32)
- Actalent (27)
North Carolina
- Black & Veatch (67)
- Spatco Energy Solutions (16)
- Celonis (3)
- Duke Energy (3)
- Dominion Energy (2)
- Quest Global Services Na (2)
- Johnson Matthey (1)
- Covia (1)
- Insight Global (1)
- National Grid (1)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.